Cord Cutters: A First Look at MLB & NBA on Apple TV

With the latest software update to the Apple TV set-top box, sports fans will finally be able to stream live baseball and basketball games on the device. For sports fans and cord cutters like me, that gives us another way to keep track of our favorite teams without having to pay for a cable subscription.

We took a first look at the new sports apps available on the Apple TV for this special episode of Cord Cutters:

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I’m a Phillies fan and subscriber to MLB.tv, so I was curious to see how the service looks on the Apple TV. Unfortunately, it’s still spring training, so the number of games that are available for streaming are relatively limited. Also, the games aren’t being streamed in HD yet, but MLB says that should be corrected once the MLB season officially starts. While the MLB app is a nice feature right now, after Opening Day it could be a must-have for cord-cutting baseball fans, or even those that live outside the home area of their favorite team.

I also have access to NBA League Pass Broadband — provided to us free by Turner so we could test out the service — so we took a look at that as well. The verdict? Games streamed on Apple TV look really good. While the quality isn’t quite “true” HD, on a big screen TV, the NBA streams will look nearly as good as those displayed through your local sports network’s standard definition stream.

Altogether, the new apps available through Apple TV are great news for sports fans who don’t pay for cable, and great news for people who don’t live in the home market of their favorite baseball or basketball team. Unfortunately for those who live in their favorite team’s home market, games won’t be available due to local blackout restrictions. But for the rest of us, MLB.tv and NBA League Pass are great ways to watch all the games, now on TV.